Chapter 27
The dungeon.
That's where Elena awakens.
A singularity heralding the beginning of the game.
And the world's largest dungeon.
The dungeon later called the 'Reator Dungeon' is divided into floors deep underground, welcoming adventurers.
The dungeon is divided into the upper, middle, lower, and deep levels.
Once you descend to the lower levels, ogres and monsters of comparable strength roam around like common mobs, and the deep levels go without saying.
The dungeon was so rich in mana that monsters of that caliber could lie buried peacefully beneath it.
Resources were abundant.
Magic stones, minerals, herbs, monster materials, and opportunities for growth. Anything an adventurer could want came out of the dungeon.
And all of it was of a purity difficult to obtain outside.
That's why people flocked there.
It wasn't just adventurers.
Blacksmiths, alchemists, apothecaries, merchants, porters, and cooks. An entire industry grew and took root around a single dungeon.
That was why Reator came to be known as a 'dungeon city.'
A mere small city on the frontier transformed into one of the continent's foremost metropolises.
Its population grew, its walls expanded, its guild branch gained a status rivaling the headquarters, and the lord's finances swelled enormously.
But it wasn't all good.
The dungeon periodically overflowed.
Monster waves.
Even if the dungeon entrance was blocked, monsters didn't merely spill out—they burst forth.
If they couldn't be stopped, the entire city would be swept away.
If the city wasn't properly prepared for a defensive battle, the Reator domain would vanish from the map that very day.
"There's one thing you need to do."
Elena's role in this was crucial.
Elena tilted her head.
I took my hand off the glass and rested my arm on the table.
Inside, I was more serious than ever, but outwardly I pretended to be casual, making it clear that I was after gain rather than goodwill.
"I brought some interesting news. You need to step up in my place."
I took out the rough map I had prepared for this moment and placed it on the table.
My gaze turned toward the guild dining hall.
Elena noticed my glance and moved beside me before I could even say anything, pressing herself against my side.
She propped an arm on the table and listened closely.
"Listen carefully. You mustn't tell anyone what I'm about to say. Tell your party members only the bare minimum."
"Is it really important?"
"It is. This is information I had a hard time obtaining, so don't tell anyone about it."
I spread out the rough map and explained.
"This is a rough map of the northern mountain range. Search the surrounding area here."
My finger pointed to one spot on the map and drew a circle around it.
"Search?"
"That's right. I received a prediction that a dungeon is highly likely to appear in this area. Don't ask who told me. I have no intention of answering. Just do exactly as I tell you."
"Yes. I've never regretted listening to you, Uncle."
Elena's eyes swept over the map.
The marked area was half a day's journey from the city.
It was a stretch that adventurers rarely bothered to search.
It was almost a barren expanse, with few monsters and nothing worth gathering. If not for the monsters, it would have been an ideal place to farm.
"The drawback is that we don't know exactly when it will appear, but go search there every day until at least the next Red Moon rises."
"If you mean the Red Moon..."
"There's still a month left. From now on, you'll have to be diligent."
"Ah, yes."
Elena nodded and accepted my instructions.
"I'll do it."
"You just took down a troll, but consider that practice for this moment. That's how important this is."
There was no lie in anything I said.
I had worked toward this moment from the very beginning.
It was the beginning of Elena's story and a crossroads for the path I would take from here on. I even forgot to play Eck as my heart pounded wildly.
"If you're dissatisfied, tell me. This time, I'll even hear your complaints."
"I don't have any."
"Not even a little?"
"No."
Elena's eyes were as clear as ever. There was no suspicion or defiance. It was a blindly trusting gaze that seemed to believe anything I said.
Elena followed me blindly.
'It seems what I've done so far wasn't pointless.'
I said, inwardly letting out a sigh of relief.
"Go first thing tomorrow morning."
"Yes."
"This is an advance payment. If any of your party members complain, shut them up with money."
Elena nodded and rose from her seat.
"I understand. It's for a month, right?"
"That's right. You can take it easy until you find it, but search every day."
"Yes."
Elena left the guild.
I idly fiddled with the empty glass.
'It's starting now.'
Because time flowed differently in the game and reality, it was difficult to know exactly when the dungeon would appear.
But it was possible to infer it by counting how many times the Red Moon had risen.
It was a somewhat crude method, but if I went there every day starting today, I would discover the dungeon faster than anyone else.
She'd find out, whether she liked it or not.
Elena would think, 'Ah, so that's what Uncle was talking about.'
"Ugh."
My vision swam.
Had I drunk too much?
Even though I'd only had three glasses, the alcohol made my vision whirl as if everything might turn upside down.
My swaying head struck the table.
My consciousness cut off there.
***
I opened my eyes.
A magic lamp cast a gentle light across a smoothly polished wooden table.
My body felt heavy.
Even when I tried to raise my arm, no strength entered my muscles, as though the effects of the drug still lingered.
'I didn't think I'd get kidnapped.'
This was largely my fault.
If I had been the usual Eck, I would have made a fuss about the alcohol tasting different from what I normally drank, but I had accepted it without a second thought.
That tiny lapse in vigilance was what made the difference between being safe and being 'kidnapped.'
'I did something stupid.'
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
If someone had drugged the alcohol, the only possible culprit was Jeina. The fact that it was served to every diner but only affected me was proof.
'There's no way I'd collapse after three glasses.'
I turned my head, rolling my stiff neck from being laid down awkwardly.
I looked around the room.
Walls covered in wallpaper, a fine wooden desk, and several thick ledgers on a shelf. The guild emblem hanging on the inner wall caught my eye.
'The guild.'
If Jeina had plotted this, then it must have been the guild's doing.
The fact that they had procured a powerful drug capable of overcoming an A-rank adventurer's resistance showed how desperate they had been.
This was an area ordinary adventurers couldn't access.
The top floor of the guild headquarters.
The guildmaster's office.
I rose from the sofa.
There were no restraints.
It didn't seem I'd been brought here to be harmed.
The door opened.
Familiar footsteps clicked across the floor.
I knew the owner of those footsteps.
"Awake?"
A woman with short black hair and a slender waist cinched by a belt. She was dressed in neat office-worker attire.
"What the hell are you doing, Rebecca?"
Rebecca.
Rebecca, once Eck's party companion, had appeared before me.
Rebecca sat down on the sofa opposite me.
Her gaze had grated on me since the moment she entered, as it continued inspecting every part of my body.
It lingered as it traveled from my face to my neck, shoulders, collarbones, chest, abs, waist, hips, groin, thighs, and finally my toes, as though savoring the view.
"Don't be so angry. It's not as though I brought you here this way because I dislike you. You were the one who started avoiding me, weren't you?"
Rebecca was one of Eck's women.
And she was the woman Eck avoided.
Many women had passed through Eck's grasp, but Rebecca was the only one he had been repulsed by and rejected first.
No wonder. This one...
"You drugged me?"
"I only wanted to wake up your dulled vigilance. Your usual self wouldn't have fallen for a trick like this."
Rebecca offered her excuse in a lowered voice, pursing her lips.
"I'd been adding a little for days, but you didn't react at all. So I was worried. If you were poisoned... the guild would lose its only A-rank asset."
She fidgeted with her fingers.
"I'd be sad too. So, that thing I'd proposed before. You could accept it even now..."
"Enough."
I cut Rebecca off.
I knew exactly what she was about to say.
"Forget that nonsense about becoming a woman. Before I tear that mouth apart."
"Don't say such harsh things. It feels like my panties might get wet."
"You masochistic freak."
Rebecca's impassive face took on a faint flush.
Eck detested Rebecca.
Eck, who knew no way to deal with people except through violence, verbal abuse, cursing, and murder, had no idea how to handle Rebecca.
He kept doing things she ought to hate, but she only liked them more.
Even when he threw her to the monsters.
After escaping the monster horde, Eck came face-to-face with her blissfully flushed expression as she gave birth to monster offspring right before his eyes, and he undoubtedly felt fear.
....
That was why he was left speechless.
She liked it when he cursed at her.
She would probably like it when he praised her, too.
What the hell was this seemingly invincible creature? It was as if she'd enjoy anything he did to her.
"Tsk. If you repeat the same acts and spout the same nonsense again, I'll sever my ties with the guild."
"Eck, please think rationally."
"I said enough!"
I rose from my seat and tried to leave the guildmaster's office.
Rebecca called out to stop me.
"Then answer just one thing. If you do, I'll give you the virility potion I acquired the other day."
"That..."
Rebecca held out the potion and made her offer.
A virility potion, of all things.
It was an essential nutrient for men.
That was a high-grade virility potion that had even appeared in the game.
"What do you want to ask?"
One question should be all right.
"Why did you take in the child you're raising now?"
I snatched the virility potion from her hand.
"I fell in love at first sight. Happy now?"
"That's a lie."
"Believe it or don't."
I opened the potion's cap and downed it in one go.
I tossed the potion bottle back to Rebecca.
"Goodbye, Eck. It was fun seeing you again."
I clicked my tongue, kicked open the door, and left.